


What I Like About You

by PhoebeDillard



Category: Anne with an E (TV)
Genre: F/M, First Kiss, Shirbert, Spin the bottle part 2 yall, gilbert being a sweetheart
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-07-24
Updated: 2018-07-24
Packaged: 2019-06-15 11:32:22
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,220
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15411987
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/PhoebeDillard/pseuds/PhoebeDillard
Summary: Anne doesn't like Gilbert, at least that's what she keeps telling herself until a game of Spin the Bottle brings up something interesting





	What I Like About You

              “C’mon can we please do something else?” Anne pleaded as Diana all but dragged her into the room where everyone dropped off their outer wear in the mornings. “We can just go home! Since Miss Stacy never showed up there’d be no harm.”

              Diana let go of her arm and flashed her a reassuring smile. “It’ll be fine Anne. And we can’t leave just yet. What Miss Stacy’s just running late? Then you’d be counted absent.”

              “If it gets me out of another game of spin the bottle then I don’t care if I’m counted absent. I’d give up my puff sleeved dress if it meant I could leave right now,” Anne said, turning around to make a dash for the exit.

              Her blues eyes met Cole’s as they almost collided into each other. He was already dressed in his coat, hat, and scarf, carrying with him all his school supplies. In his free hand he held Anne’s winter wear and lunch basket.

“I’m one step ahead of you,” he said with a mischievous smile.

              Anne giggled and took her stuff from him, both moving to the door while Diana protested loudly in the background. “You can’t just leave! Come on Cole! Anne!”

              Cole grabbed Anne’s free hand and pulled her alongside him. She reached a hand out to twist the knob when someone stepped in front of her, blocking their escape.

              “Hold on you two can’t just leave,” the person said, amusement lacing their voice.

              Gilbert Blythe. Anne took a step back in surprise, bumping into Cole who let out an _oomph_ while stumbling backwards.

              He looked at their hands which were still joined, then up at Anne’s face confused. “What exactly are you two doing?” he asked with an odd clench to his jaw.

              Anne’s steely blue eyes met his warm browns with a glare. “Trying to leave thank you very much so if you could-“ she was once again blocked as she moved to the door.

              Cole must’ve seen the flare of anger in her eye because he decided to cut in. “Gilbert! Please let us leave, we don’t want to play this game okay?”

              Gilbert let out a low chuckle and shook his head. “Sorry but if I have to stay and play against my will then you have to too.” He gave Anne a smile that might seemed apologetic to her at any other time but now. “It’s only fair.”

              Anne wanted the slap that smile right off his face. She opened her mouth to give him a piece of her mind but stopped short when he flashed her another grin and sauntered off. Her breath caught in her throat, the words never making it passed her lips.

              She closed her mouth with a flustered groan and turned to face Cole who was looking at her amused. “This isn’t funny Cole! Do you not remember what happened last time we played this retched game?”

              He rolled his eyes and moved to rehang his coat, hat, and scarf. “Of course I remember. How could I forget?”

              Anne followed him and started putting her stuff away once more. “Then what could you possibly find so amusing right now to have that stupid smile on your face?”

              Cole let out a light chuckle, a sound that only made Anne’s anger more prominent. “I just can’t believe someone as smart as you doesn’t see it.”

              She sighed and turned to face him having finished stowing her garments. “See what?” she asked with exasperation.

              “That Gilbert only wants you to stay because he wants the chance to kiss you.” He turned to face Anne and smirked at her now rose tinged cheeks. “And dare I say you want the same thing?”

              “No!” she yelled quickly, trying to ignore the irregular rhythm of her heart. “You shouldn’t because I don’t.”

              Cole nodded his head, that smug smile of his not wavering. “Sure Anne.”

              “I’m serious Cole!”

              “I know,” he said teasingly, brushing past her. “C’mon they’re about to start.”

              Anne clenched her jaw, trying to abolish the light flutter in the pit of her stomach with sheer will power alone. “I don’t want Gilbert Blythe to kiss me,” she muttered, trying to convince herself of that fact more than anything else.

              She trudged over to the circle her class mates made and sat down between Diana and Cole with a huff. Anne took a quick glance at Gilbert who sat almost directly across from her.

              He was already looking at her. They made eye contact for a moment. Anne for some reason was not able to tear her gaze away from that stupid twinkle his eyes adorned, and that stupid soft smile he was giving her.

              “Stop staring it’s creepy,” Cole whispered in her ear.

              Anne jumped out of her reverie and gave him a quick slap on the shoulder. “I wasn’t staring,” she mumbled. The floor was suddenly very interesting to look at.

              “Alright,” Josie Pye said excitedly, coming into the middle of the circle. She placed an empty milk bottle on the floor and went back to her seat next to Ruby. “Who wants to go first?”

              Cole and Anne both shifted uncomfortably as Charlie raised a hand. “I’ll start,” he volunteered. Billy and some of the other boys cheered and he leaned forward and spun the bottle.

              Anne let out a breath she hadn’t known she was holding as it spun to a stop at Tillie. The room burst into a fit long drawn out _oo’s_ as both she and Charlie stood up and walked to the middle of the circle.

              Charlie wiggled his eyebrows, then gave her a quick peck on the lips. Tillie giggled, a blush forming on her cheeks as they both sat down.

              Next was Diana who landed on Moody. Then it was one of Billy’s friends Anne had never bothered to learn the name of who landed on Josie.

              Anne bit her lip to hold back a laugh at Ruby’s disappointed face when the bottle’s nose didn’t point to Gilbert after she spun it. She should’ve felt bad, but honestly she didn’t even try to hide it. The poor boy she landed on looked almost upset at the face she gave.

              She and Cole had managed to not spin the bottle or get landed on by sheer luck for a majority of the game. Some people had even been landed on twice and they still hadn’t played, but Anne wasn’t complaining.

              That’s when Billy decided to have a go. As he leaned forward with a confident smirk, Anne got a horrible feeling in the pit of her stomach.

              She closed her eyes as the bottle began to spin, just knowing her luck had finally run out.

              The room went quiet. Anne’s heart thumped against her chest, her breathing becoming uneven. She summoned all the courage in her, opened her eyes, and looked down at the bottle. There was no quorum about it, the nose definitely pointed at her.

              “Oh no,” Diana mumbled under her breath. She could the eyes of everyone burning holes into the side of her head.

              Anne looked up at Billy hesitantly, her bottom lip quivering. His expression was exactly what she expected it to look like, but it still hurt to see.

              Charlie laughed, the other boys joining in along with Josie. “Oh no way!” he yelled between chortles, shoving Billy’s shoulder playfully. “Come on Andrews! Pucker up!”

              The laughter around Anne increased as some of the boys made kissy noises at her expense. Moody and Gilbert were the only two not doing anything besides Cole. Ruby, Tillie, and Diana stayed quiet too. At least this time she had more of the class on her side.

              “Oh no way,” Billy said with disgust. “There is no way you’re going to get me to kiss that- that orphan. Game or not I refuse.”

              “Oh c’mon Billy-“Gilbert started looking between he and Anne with dark eyes. That twinkle in them that she hated oh so much was gone. “There’s no nee- Anne! Anne what ar-”

              But she didn’t hear the rest because she was up on her feet and running. She burst through the door of the school house at a near sprint, not bothering to grab her jacket.

              The cold winter breeze hit her like a slap to the face. It made her lungs burn as she ran and ran and ran into the forest not once looking back behind her. Her braids continuously slapped her in the face as she maneuvered the uneven terrain before finally coming to rest by a large fallen tree.

              Anne sat down roughly with a sniffle, rubbing her hands together as she leaned her back against the tree’s trunk. It only took sitting there for a few minutes for her to regret her decision to not take 2 more seconds and grab her jacket.

              She wouldn’t cry. She refused to cry. She refused to cry because she shouldn’t have expected the game to go any differently. She refused to cry because this was something she was going to have to get used to.

              No matter where she went, how much time had passed, and what she did, Anne would always be the too skinny, too freckled, too beady eyed red haired orphan no one cared about.

              “Anne!” she heard Diana call out in near distance. “Anne!”

“C’mon we know you’re around here,” Cole added. “we can see your footsteps in the snow lead up that tree.”

She didn’t want to talk to them, not right now. Not when she was so scared of scaring them off like everyone else in her life had done before.

“Go away!” Anne yelled back. “I just want to be alone.”

The snow crunched under their boots as they approached the tree. She tilted her head backwards, looking up at the sky to see their heads peering over at her.

“I said go away,” Anne mumbled, looking forward again. “Go back to class and have fun with the rest.”

“Anne-“

“Its fine go. I just want to be alone right now.”

A moment of silence passed. “Are you sure?” Cole asked tentatively.

“Yes I’m sure,” Anne answered with finality.

After a moment of whispers between he and Diana, they mumbled a quick good bye and walked away. She listened as the sound of their boots against the snow got quieter and quieter until it disappeared completely.

Anne didn’t know how long she sat there in silence with nothing but her thoughts to keep her company.

The sun was barely directly overhead, the day almost halfway done. She was thankful for the clear day at least, the lack of cloud cover made it easy for the suns faint rays to provide a little warmth from the biting winter.

That being said, it wasn’t nearly as useful as Anne’s coat in the classroom. She had to bite the inside of her cheeks to keep her teeth from chattering. She kept her hands laced together under her chin, trying to take advantage of what body heat she could give them.

She wasn’t stupid. Anne knew that she’d have to go back eventually. If not to soothe everyone’s worry then to keep herself from getting terribly ill.

Anne looked at a nearby shadow on the ground, resolving to herself that once it grew an inch and reached a nearby stick, she’d go back.

              The eerie silence was comforting. With most animals having hibernated or gone south for the winter, the forest was almost dead quiet aside from the occasional rustle of dead leaves from the wind.

              The sound of boots against the snow getting louder and louder registered in Anne’s mind. She let out a groan. Couldn’t they take a hint?

              “I told you to go away!” she yelled, her hot breath forming a cloud in front of her face.

The footsteps persisted, they were almost to the tree trunk. Anne threw her head back to look up at the sky once more. “I said go away!” Her voice came out more forceful than she intended, Anne almost felt bad.

A head peered at her from over the tree trunk. She parted her lips in surprise. It was neither Diana nor Cole.

“Fine,” Gilbert said, shrugging his shoulders. “I’ll go. But I suggest you take this jacket I brought for you first.”

Anne scrunched her eyebrows in confusion. “What?” She sat up startled as a heap of familiar fabric fell into her lap. “Oh,” she mumbled.

              “I figured your day sucked enough as it is,” Gilbert said nonchalantly. “Wouldn’t want to add dying of hypothermia to top it all off.”

              She opened her mouth to speak but he continued. “Don’t worry, I’m leaving,” he said. “Just wanted to see if you were okay, that’s all.”

              As Anne listened to his footsteps get further and further away, she felt a sense of regret. “Wait!” she called out, immediately wincing at how needy it sounded. “You can stay… if you want too.”

              The footsteps halted for a moment, then got louder as Gilbert walked back over. Anne sat with her eyes closed until he had successfully hurdled the large tree and taken a seat next to her.

              Gilbert’s body heat radiated off him in waves. So much so that she was still keenly aware of his presence even after having put her jacket on.

              “Thank you,” Anne said, after a moment of comfortable silence between them. He fixed his brown eyes on her. “For the jacket, I mean.”

              He gave her a soft smile which she returned. The fluttering in her stomach returned. “It’s no problem carrots.”

              A year or two ago that nickname would’ve sent Anne’s anger through to space. But now, all it did was make her to laugh at the memory brought along with it.

              Gilbert laughed along with her, they were both smiling now. “I’m glad we’ve come far enough to laugh at that now,” he said between chuckles.

              Anne nodded her head. “Me too. I uh- maybe had over reacted a little bit.”

              He shook his head, absentmindedly rubbing the spot she’d hit him with her old slate. “No, you didn’t. I had it coming. I deserved it.”

              “Yea you did,” she replied bluntly, making eye contact with him.

They started laughing again, and after a few moments it dwindled off into silence. A surprisingly comfortable silence at that.

Anne was becoming hypervigilant of Gilbert’s presence, of just how close their knees and shoulders were as they sat side by side. She could time each of his breaths with the rise and fall of his chest and the cloud of air that came with it.

His ears and cheeks were tinged pink from the cold. The color almost matched that of his bottom lip, which Anne noticed from his profile stuck out a little further than the top when parted. Tufts of dark hair stuck out from beneath his hat, curling up and around his ears.

When Gilbert turned to look at her, she realized his brown eyes were a shade lighter and a tone warmer than the strands. The white landscape around them made them seem even more dark and smoldering than usual.

She glanced away quickly, thankful for the cold because her rising blush could be attributed to it. _Sure Gilbert is attractive_ , Anne thought to herself, _but that doesn’t mean you like him. You can think someone is cute and not like them_.

The irregular beat of her heart thumping loudly in her ears mocked her though, telling Anne a completely different story than she was telling herself.

“Billy is trash you know,” Gilbert said, his deep voice breaking the silence. “You shouldn’t care what he says or thinks.”

Anne knew he was right. She couldn’t bring herself to look at him so she just kept her eyes on the horizon. “How can I not care when everyone thinks the same?” she said quietly.

“I don’t”

“You’re only saying that because I’m your friend.”

“True…” Gilbert trailed off, tilting his head to get a better look at her face. “But I would have kissed you if I spun the bottle.”

There was no way he didn’t hear her suck in a breath quickly. Anne’s heart skipped a beat, she could feel it pounding against her rib cage like a horses hooves on gravel.

She could his eyes on her, Gilbert’s gaze burned like fire into the side of her head. Anne parted her lips to speak, but nothing came out.

For once in her life, Anne Shirley had no words.

The air between them was thick enough to cut with a knife. She wanted to say something, anything, to break the awkward silence. Her mind was too busy running a mile a minute to process what he’d just said.

“You know what Anne?” Gilbert’s voice pierced the silence. “Did you know that everything you don’t like about yourself I find absolutely enchanting?”

Anne merely shook her head, turning to look at him slowly. Her blue eyes met his, a smile tugged at the corners of Gilbert’s lips.

“Your freckles, your ability to never stop talking, your red hair, and your bright blue eyes that come along with it making it seem ever redder by contrast. They’re all apart of you… Anne. They’re what make you, in my professional opinion, the cutest girl in all of Avonlea. They’re the reason I like you so much.”

Anne just about died right there and then. She was at a loss for words, once again. Gilbert seemed to be the only person in the world who had the power to make her quiet.

His eyes darted back and forth between hers, his breath coming out in clouds between them. Anne’s lips parted, a shaky breath escaping from her lungs.

She’d always heard that actions spoke louder than words. So what better time to test that theory than a time when Anne has absolutely nothing to say.

Anne did the first thing that came to mind. It no doubt surprised Gilbert as much, if not more, than it surprised her.

She reached a hand up to the back of Gilbert’s neck and met him halfway for a kiss.

It lasted all but five seconds, and in those five seconds Anne experienced more indescribable emotion than she ever had before.

Gilbert’s lips were warm and soft against hers. His long eyelashes fluttered closed against her cheek as he leaned in closer to apply more pressure.

Anne pulled away first with closed eyes, still in sort of a trance. Her brain felt fuzzy and short circuited. All the books in th world couldn’t have prepared her for that.

She opened her eyes to meet Gilbert’s warm brown ones. They were watching her’s closely from only a few inches away. It was then Anne realized their position.

She gasped and took her hand off his neck, pulling it into her chest. Gilbert looked at her with both shock and confusion. “Anne-“

“No, no, no, no , no I uh- I gotta go,” she rushed out, scrambling up onto her feet as fast as she could.

Gilbert started to stand up too. “Wait Anne what are you- Anne!” he called out after her.

But for the second time that day she was already up and running.


End file.
